The cost of raising a child is increasing faster than inflation and now totals more than £210,000, according to an annual study.
The figure is up 4.5 per cent over the last year, ahead of the official inflation rate of four per cent, with 78 per cent of parents making cutbacks to cope with financial pressures, the Cost of a Child Report from insurer LV= found.
The planned cuts to Child Benefit and rising university tuition fees are set to increase the pressure on parents, the survey showed.
The total £210,848 cost of raising a child until their 21st birthday equates to £10,040 a year, £836 a month or £27.50 a day. Today’s cost of raising a child is up 50 per cent from LV=‘s first report in 2003.
Childcare and education remain the biggest expenditure, costing parents £67,430 and £55,660 respectively over a childhood. The cost of education, including school uniforms, after-school clubs and university tuition fees but excluding private school fees has grown by 5.3 per cent over the last year.
Other areas that have seen significant increases in 2010 include clothing (up 11.7 per cent), holidays (up 6.4 per cent), food (up 5.9 per cent) and personal care including toiletries and bath equipment (up 5.1 per cent).
Parents spend £9,491 in a child’s first year, £13,397 a year on one to four-year-olds, £9,476 a year on five to 10-year-olds and £6,831 on 11 to 17-year-olds, according to the figures compiled for LV= by the Centre of Economic and Business Research.
The university years of 18 to 21 are the most expensive at £14,365 each.
LV= spokesman Mark Jones said: “Childcare and education must feel like another mortgage payment for some parents as this is still the biggest outlay and shows no signs of slowing down, particularly when many universities are set to increase tuition fees up to £9,000 a year from 2012.
“Despite this, I don’t think any parent would begrudge any spending on their children and savvy ways to reduce costs and protect income are all sensible measures to consider.”
The report found that a third of parents (35 per cent) remained hopeful that their child would go to university despite the increase in fees, and expected to make cutbacks to help with the cost.
But 18 per cent said they would not be able to afford to help pay tuition fees, seven per cent hoped their child would win a scholarship and 8 per cent doubted that their child would go to university at all because of the cost. Family and Parenting Institute spokeswoman Anne Page said: “A society in which parenthood can cause poverty is not a family- friendly society. Many couples in the UK dip into poverty once they have children. They face a postcode lottery in terms of childcare costs.